Charles Dickens’ works are famous for their multitudes of characters, sprawling storylines, mixtures of many different genres, acerbic sense of humor and social awareness. His novel, Little Dorrit, is no exception, combining a rags-to-riches-and-back-again tale with a mystery involving a long-hidden family secret, a love story that spans numerous reversals of fortune, and a biting satire. It boasts a cast of characters, major and minor, that hail from every level of society, from the unimaginably poor to the extravagantly rich, with the character of “Little” Amy Dorrit acting as the heart of the story. Amy was born in the Marshalsea Debtor’s prison, where her father is the longest-serving inmate. When Arthur Clennam takes an interest in the affairs of her family, their fates become intertwined as their fortunes, and those of everyone around them, fluctuate in a world of shady financial dealings and a horribly mismanaged government.
As I mentioned before, Dickens’ stories are known for blending many different genres and seemingly unrelated storylines and characters together. As such, they can be interpreted in a variety of ways. This page features links to three different analyses of Little Dorrit, written for my senior English class. The first will offer a literary interpretation examining the motif of imprisonment in the novel. An interpretation of the story as it relates to Dickens’ own life will comprise the second essay and, in the third and final essay, I will analyze the book as a work of political and social satire.
Dickens' Little Dorrit, like many of his other novels, is a rather long and complex tale, where even the minor characters have a story to tell and a purpose to fulfill. In this book, Dickens' sharp sense of humor and extraordinary powers of observation and description are alive and well, filling every one of the novel's 800 plus pages with beautiful quotes and insightful commentary. Consequently, many examples that may fit into the topics of my essays and numerous quotes that struck me as I read will have to be omitted. Hopefully, though, these essays will serve as a mere taste of what awaits any potential reader of Little Dorrit and leave that reader, in the spirit of another famous Dickens protagonist, wanting more.
As I mentioned before, Dickens’ stories are known for blending many different genres and seemingly unrelated storylines and characters together. As such, they can be interpreted in a variety of ways. This page features links to three different analyses of Little Dorrit, written for my senior English class. The first will offer a literary interpretation examining the motif of imprisonment in the novel. An interpretation of the story as it relates to Dickens’ own life will comprise the second essay and, in the third and final essay, I will analyze the book as a work of political and social satire.
Dickens' Little Dorrit, like many of his other novels, is a rather long and complex tale, where even the minor characters have a story to tell and a purpose to fulfill. In this book, Dickens' sharp sense of humor and extraordinary powers of observation and description are alive and well, filling every one of the novel's 800 plus pages with beautiful quotes and insightful commentary. Consequently, many examples that may fit into the topics of my essays and numerous quotes that struck me as I read will have to be omitted. Hopefully, though, these essays will serve as a mere taste of what awaits any potential reader of Little Dorrit and leave that reader, in the spirit of another famous Dickens protagonist, wanting more.
